Tom Thumb and Bettelheim's Uses of Enchantment Analyzed

Bettelheim's Theory of Fairy Tales

The famous psychoanalyst Bruno Bettelheim made a study of childhood fairy tales and found that they serve a profound purpose for children, helping them make sense of a world that does not always make sense to a child. As he wrote:

"There is a widespread refusal to let children know that the source of much that goes wrong in life is due to our very own natures — the propensity of all men for acting aggressively, asocially, selfishly, out of anger and anxiety. Instead, we want our children to believe that, inherently, all men are good. But children know that they are not always good; and often, even when they are, they would prefer not to be. This contradicts what they are told by their parents, and therefore makes the child a monster in his own eyes." (Bettelheim, p. 7)

In his book The Uses of Enchantment, Bettelheim analyzes many common fairy tales, explaining how the stories meet the emotional and developmental needs of children. He points out that through the fairy tale, otherwise bewildering life events that children cannot understand become understandable. And, since they take place in a fairy tale with magical elements, fanciful characters, and impossible events, the stories are comforting rather than frightening. Children know that while some adults can be mean, uncaring, and neglectful, a pumpkin cannot really turn into a coach and mice cannot really turn into beautiful horses. So, even as a child reads about mean adults acting very badly toward children, they are encouraged to recognize that the story is not true. That makes the story safe to read, unlike stories such as The Shining, where awful events are presented in as believable a way as possible.

Tom Thumb as a Story of Self-Actualization

While Bettelheim did not analyze the story of "Tom Thumb" in his book, he might have. He would have found a story of childhood empowerment and a family that discovers that all the money in the world cannot replace a loved one. However, if that were all there were to the story, "Tom Thumb" would be nothing more than a fable with a moral lesson.

In the character of Tom Thumb we have an intelligent boy who is perceived as incapable of accomplishing useful things because of his small size. It is a story of self-actualization, in which the boy believes in himself and then has multiple chances to demonstrate to his parents and to the world that size does not always matter. In the story, the parents wish they had a child, and the mother even says that she would welcome a child no matter what — even if he were no bigger than her thumb, she would love and raise him well. In a perverse twist of fate, when they do have a child, he is no bigger than her thumb. While he matures, he does not grow.

In time, the father wishes he had someone to help him by driving the cart while he cut fuel. The father sees only Tom's limitations, but Tom knows the horse has been trained to follow voice commands. "Put me in his ear," he says, and he guides the horse through the woods successfully. Because of this, some unscrupulous men notice Tom and offer to buy him from the father. The father refuses, but Tom talks him into it, then tricks the men by escaping.

In the scene in which Tom schemes to cheat the men who purchased him, we see Tom acting immorally — he actively plans to deceive them. Through this episode, Bettelheim would probably argue that the reader has his own capacity for bad behavior validated, making him feel less like a monster. His parents may expect him to always act well, but here is an example showing that other children sometimes make mistakes, or even deliberately do something they should not, and remain loveable. The reader learns that a child does not have to be perfect to be loveable.

Moral Complexity and Childhood Validation

In another incident, Tom overhears thieves discussing how to rob a minister. Knowing this to be wrong, Tom offers to help them, then positions himself to both thwart their plan and escape safely. Thus the boy who once acted badly has been redeemed, having used his capacity for plotting and scheming to do the right thing as well as the wrong one. Bettelheim's framework, as applied to the Brothers Grimm tradition more broadly, suggests that such moral oscillation is precisely what makes fairy tales psychologically honest for young readers.

Conclusion

At the end of the story, Tom Thumb has ended up in the stomach of a wolf, and his father must deal with this threat carefully to avoid harming his child. By the end of the story, the family is back in balance. The father has acted like a father, but the son has displayed courage and intelligence. He no longer has to fight for his position in the family; he has proven himself.